The freelance workforce is fast growing, helped by the pandemic and an increasing number of workers around the world who are embracing the upsides of flexible, remote working.
But unlike small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have long had access to a myriad of tech-enabled products to run their businesses, freelancers lack options when it comes to tools and resources tailored to basic needs such as creating portfolios, managing clients and issuing invoices.
“All of the major tech products that offer solutions to businesses were born out of the 90s period and are focused on departmental functions of SMEs. In other words, they serve a very particular vertical sliver of what an SME does,” Albert Azis-Clauson, founder and CEO at UnderPinned, an online platform tool for freelancers, told PYMNTS in a recent interview.
He outlined three types of audience categories that UnderPinned could target — gig workers who are competitive on price via platforms, freelancers who are competitive on value by project-based work, and contractors who are long-term non-employees — and explained their decision to focus on the freelance segment.
“We are focused on the middle section, [that is] value by project-based work. What we’re trying to do is build systems to help people build successful careers and businesses as a freelancer,” he noted.
See also: 73% of Independent Contractors Would Switch to Freelance Marketplace for Better Payment Experience
Another solution which is lacking in the freelance space is the ability to connect with other like-minded professionals, which Azis-Clauson said is critical to their business growth.
“The most valuable activity a freelancer can do is network — the professional network of a freelancer is the only uniquely defining criterion upon which their success is based,” he said.
Since launch in 2018, the firm has been working to plug these holes and has developed an end-to-end online management system to meet the needs of this growing workforce, providing horizontal solutions that enable freelancers to build their business and develop their careers all in one place.
Learning ‘Freelance’ Right From the Start
Azis-Clauson said the open banking initiative has also been instrumental in reducing the fees that UnderPinned users are charged when making or receiving payments. While there are bugs that need fixing and aspects of the user experience that need improvement, his view was that the regulatory scheme “offers the most realistic scenario to having low-cost, faster payments for business-to-business (B2B) transactions.”
As the company continues to grow and onboard new clients, he said the focus will be on ensuring that the company’s systems are optimized and data is used effectively to reduce the amount of friction for new users.
Other products in the works include establishing dashboards for clients so that they can build and manage their own freelance teams, as well as removing the transaction fee and replacing it with a service that assists freelancers with building, communicating and managing their rolling talent forces.
Related: Grubhub Says Instant Payments Give Gig Workers Much-Needed Financial Flexibility
To further expand its reach, the London-based company recently partnered with several universities in London, including the London College of Communication and London Metropolitan University, to give over 22,000 students access to its online platform and business accelerator program.
For Aziz-Clauson, collaborating with academic institutions is a way of tackling the problem from the root cause and ensuring that in addition to people transitioning to freelancer work, the increasing number of individuals who are choosing to launch straight into freelancing or project-based work after school are equipped with the right skills that will ultimately set them up for success.
“Nobody has ever left education or employment feeling competent about starting a freelance business — we just don’t really teach people how to do that,” he noted.
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